The certification requirements outlined below are for both Minor and Female hockey.

Risk Management: Who needs what?

All volunteers at all levels - Coaches, assistant coaches, trainers and managers registered with any minor hockey team or association must
complete the Hockey Nova Scotia screening process of Criminal Records and Child Abuse Registry checks. Criminal Records and Child abuse Registry checks must be resubmitted every 3 years.

All volunteers at all levels - Coaches, assistant coaches, trainers and managers registered with any minor hockey team or association must complete the Respect in Sport online course.

·All instructors at Initiation division (players aged 5 & 6) are to be certified with a minimum Intro Coach Program.

·All coaches at the Novice division (players aged 7 & 8) are to be certified with a minimum Intro Coach Program.

·All coaches at Recreational / C level from Atom, Peewee, Bantam, Midget must certified in the minimum Intro Coach Program or old Initiation Program. NCCP DEVELOPMENT I is acceptable for Recreation / C level coaches.

·All head coaches of Major Bantam and Major Midget teams are to be certified with the High Performance 1 Certification. All assistant coaches at Major Bantam and Major Midget levels are to be certified with a minimum NCCP Development 1

NOTE: Coaches at the ‘Competitive Levels’ ARE required to take NCCP Development 1. It is NOT NECESSARY to complete the ‘Intro Coach’ level. Coaches who are coaching IP and Novice will not be permitted to take NCCP Development 1 until they complete the ‘Coach Level’. This higher level of coaching is NOT necessary for introductory levels of hockey. Coaches and instructors must register in the clinic established as appropriate to the age grouping of the players they are coaching/instructing.

·All bench officials/coaches, including assistants and trainers at the “AAA”, “AA”, and “A” divisions at all levels must be certified in the Hockey Canada Safety Program. This certification must be renewed every three years and coaches are responsible to verify their currency annually.

·All medically trained professionals must take the HSP Course. It deals with rink safety, hockey equipment fitting and various other non first aid topics that are specific to hockey

·All teams at the “B” and “C” divisions must have at least one member of the bench staff certified in the Hockey Canada Safety Program. Bench staff includes Head Coach, Assistant Coaches and Trainer.

·All Initiation Program and Novice Teams/ Groupings must have at least one coach or instructor certified in the Hockey Canada Safety Program

·It is recommended that all teams at the “AAA”, “AA”, and “A” levels have at least one member of the bench staff certified at the HCSP Level II. HCSP Level II is available to individuals who hold a valid First Aid certificate and CPR Level “C” from a recognized agency. HCSP Level II is provided once an individual provides proof of certification. There is no clinic training required for this certification. With this certification, an individual will have to refresh every five (5) years instead of every three (3) years. Individuals interested in obtaining this certification may do so by providing proof of the required qualifications to Hockey Nova Scotia. Contact Hockey Nova Scotia at (902) 454-9400 for more information.

NOTE: The Hockey Nova Scotia deadline for registration of coaches of all ‘AAA” level teams is October 15th annually. The registration deadline for all remaining REP teams (AA, A, B) coaches is October 31st annually. These dates are in place to afford Hockey Nova Scotia the opportunity to advise associations, teams and clubs early in the season when their respective coaches do not possess the necessary certification and allow them to attend clinics as scheduled.

NOTE: For the NCCP, coaches who have previously certified in either the NCCP Coach or NCCP Intermediate levels are not required to take the new NCCP Development I Level Clinic that is required. They will be eligible to coach with what they currently have.

Any team official who is found to be in violation of any section of HNS- Regulation #11- Coach Certification will be suspended indefinitely until certification for that official has been approved by HNS and it has been added to the HCR. The minimum suspension for a first offence is five [5] games, a second offence will result in the team official being suspended for one full calendar year. HNS, HNSMC and HNSFC reserve the right to lengthen these suspensions depending on the circumstance involved in each violation.

NEW for 2015-16: Any Team Official previously registered on the Hockey Canada Registry(HCR) with any team and was not approved due to lack of the following, Respect in Sport Volunteer Program(RIS), Criminal Records Check(CRC) and Child Abuse Registry Check(CAR) will NOT be eligible to be registered with any team until these are obtained. This includes on ice or off ice activities. This regulation would not include Team Officials that have been approved in the past but their CAR or CRC have expired. These Team Officials would still have until December 1st to obtain their renewals.

Definitions:

Coach or Assistant Coach

·A person who is both on the bench during games and is on the ice during practices.

Trainer

·A person who is on the bench during the games to attend to any injuries. This person is on the bench or in the rink during practices as well - but does not go on the ice at all to help with any practices.

Manager

·A person who volunteers to help out a team with booking ice time, submitting tournament applications and making travel plans, coordinates team budgets and fundraising events. This person does not go on the bench during games and does not go on the ice during practice.